When We Were Young: The Good Old Days (Dancing Monologue Series 1)

Though most of us have crossed this phase in life often times we remember and reminisced the so-called ‘good old days’ even if we are very young according to elder’s calculation. The following are the recollection of some childhood memories which refuse to leave our minds.  A musing of a different kind to keep our mind fresh…..I suppose.

            I dedicate this piece to all my childhood friends, for the memories I cherished and for scars that reminds me of my innocence (I don’t mean to spill all our secrets; some will be frozen till the end of time).

Image credit: Meihomlung Bariampaan

Statutory warning: If you grew up in a city, town or semi-town environment you won’t feel the vibes. These nostalgic feelings are reserved for rustics.

1. You like playing soccer, soccer of different kind, made of socks or handmade ball with your torn out school shoe and your toes popping out or if you host domestic a match in your courtyard, you played until you realized that you have painted your house wall clean by your own coloring standard.

2. If you got a knife/dao and a catapult than you are safe, secured, happy and complete.

3. You played in the rain until you get feverish or pull over by elders via your ears and tears.

4. If you find a pond or a river, you swim until the pond or river get dried up or until you drank enough water or until your headache so much so you can’t figure out whether its Sunday or Monday.

5. The school was the equivalent of hell (teacher only beat and destroy). Bunking class was to go for shooting birds or just to hide in the jungle. That comes with fear and pain later.

6. Being a buffalo boy was a plus life where you got to eat wild leaves, fruits and drink fresh water. It’s completely alright if you don’t have one, you just follow the owner of the scented buffalo.

7. Children church has gang formed into different underground outfits and sometimes clashing over pity issues even during church gatherings. You all have your secret hideouts which everyone knows, often on the tree top made of straw or just leaves and sticks.

8. You go for catching birds using indigenous traps in the river or on a treetop. You don’t care whether you caught a bird or not you just like the freedom that comes along with it.

9. Swing is always available if you go to the forest; you play there until someone fell from the swing and get hurt. No complaint, just pure pain.

10. You go for crab hunting in the rain with a spade, a bag, and a gumboot. You don’t care for the threat that comes from the bloodthirsty leeches or snakes. If you caught one or two and sometimes (if lucky enough) a bag full of colorful crabs than that’s the best reward.

11. Stealing comes naturally to you (yes, it was there before sin was discovered), you steal your friends stuff and hide it so well but your friends still stick to it even if you try to come clean, you steal your neighbor’s fruits, and eggs too, you steal your parents stuff (for example-coins, if lucky enough 10 rupee note and you feed your entire friends circle for one month).

12.  Lying also come naturally to us, it is the other side of stealing. You lie for almost everything on earth not because heaven is far away but because you just can’t bear the scolding and the stick and the thrashing and the kicking and the butting and the rwakhap (shredded bambooooooooo stick-end of the story-you just spill out everything and when your version of the story is completed everyone will be found guilty for assisting in something or the other).

Interruption: Don’t pretend to be an angel here; if you are still reading this, you were once good at it. By the way (BDW), the one who reported the incident to the higher authority usually gets a better gift the following day (only time and chance will tell).

13. You got a new shirt, toy gun or lucky enough a game machine and you brag and brag and your friend swooped down and snatched it just because of curiosity and than traeeeeeakkkkk spoiled it!!!!……..hahaha take that for showing of!

14. The first time you killed a bird or small animal (not head hunting-that was a long time ago). You feel like you have won the only gold medal for India in 1984 Summer Olympics.

15. Who cuts your hair? Barber? Never..…by someone who owns a scissor. Train/untrained who cares, if he/she can stick his or her fingers into the handle and make that kachek kachek sound than the person is officially certified. But you got to bear the ridicule and fun fact thrown at you from all known and unknown directions because of your poor head for a week or two. But you still trust the person who uses your head for terrace farming (BDW none of them becomes a barber or fashion designer. They still cut and trim even today, when you go home, pay respect to the old rusted scissor and your trusted barber and if you are rich and kind enough gift to him/her a new pair of scissors).

16. Marble, by our standard definition, is a small colorful ball which we get from a local pan shop (Rs.1=10 marbles, no bargain). This was not used to build a jungle Taj Mahal but to play or to shoot birds and small animals (PETA-that’s history for you).

17. When a community fishing is organized, the person who makes the loudest noise will be carrying the smallest bundle of walnut leaves or roots used for confusing fish for a moment (haha). And all quite, humble worker ants will sweat at the expense of the lousy man or woman. And wait, they will also be the first one to rush even before the leader finish pronouncing the word “Go”. We have enough chalak/challu/ruffian among us.

18. If your dad owns a radio transistor or tape recorder or rich enough a television. Every weekend if not every day, your house is full and sometime these lucky bastards won’t allow you to enter their house. Now we get it for free.

19.  And talking of radio, how can we forget the All India Radio, Shillong station. They seem to know all our songs (bleaaaah). BDW, one of my grandpas in Nagaland got free eye treatment by getting to know of the free checkup through radio (Thanks Marconi). Now, he can see even what’s behind the mountain (human periscope).

20. There was very little news about crush, girlfriend or boyfriend. I think they use a secret potion during those days (Little Mix use duplicate potion).

21. Everyone owned four wheelers or two-wheelers run by animal fats or vegetable oil. All were ingenious; creatively design with care except for the nails you stole from your dad’s trunk box.

22.  All the rich and semi-rich kids will go to nearby town or city to study and will be returned during the festive season (here X-Mas & New Year) acting as if they have reached the moon and back. But they are usually the dumbest and stupidest kids I ever come across (haha me included).

23. Talking about X-Mas, loudspeakers or horn speakers that can be heard across the mountainous terrain were common and X-mas was not X-mas yet until the mike operator plays Michael Learns To Rock (MLTR) “Sleeping Child”.

24. All children church leaders basically think that all kids were born to sing. Sunday, birthday, Easter, X-mas, New Year, you name it, we sang in unison with or without heart I can’t remember. All I can say is we sang. The songs that were reserved for us include i) Sing, Sing Together, Merrily, Merrily Sing ii) I am Happy Today (whether you are happy or not), iii) Kumbaiya (till now I don’t know the meaning, all I know is that it has a folk connection) iv) and Kama Kaan Jacob Kounu Pa. We were made to sing and warm the hall right from the moment the hall was open until the congregation is ready for formal service and then we were kind of dismissed. By the time the real program starts, all the so-called merry chirping birds are asleep.

25. You just want to follow your parents to the nearby town and if that opportunity is seen coming, you pretend to be the nicest kid, obedient and smart (inside excited but useless & hopeless). And if your parents or any of your parents went to town, you can’t just sit still and can’t even sleep.

26. If your bully or older sibling hurt or in the worse case beat you up using Bruce Lee deadly steps. You cry and cry and cry until someone stronger, fitter and who can be a match perfect challenger to your abuser hears you and comes to your rescue.

27. In any party or social gathering, you are chounglang (official party worker who report, wash dishes, collect materials, inform etc) and you never complain. Life was good. Right! Yes or No?

The above is more of a male story. The following is a ladies diary

1. Before I start, let’s be clear here, girls back then also fight using the classic hair pulling technique often pinning it to the ground but nothing was heard of Kungfu or tank or cockfight. 

2. Shampoo was not Clinic Clear or L’Oreal. It was either sanaan (a slippery vine) or sukzao tui (made of rice water) or neem (leaves) or OK soap and no case of dandruff, hair fall or lice was reported till the time of filing this write up.

3. In any celebration/festivities, if your amou(s) (friend/friends) were late, you reserved seats (about 80 percent of the wooden plank seat) by guarding like a newly birthed hen guarding her chicks. No one will question your service (reservation in the government starts from here). They will just back off.

4. You guys feel bad or get offended by anything on earth. If your enemy friend didn’t talk to you (forget about sharing her stuff) or in the worst case scenario if she just stares at you from 10 km distance than it is World War. I don’t get all those musing.

5.  But respect to you all for fetching water and collecting fire woods. The water you guys collected were sweet and the firewood was warm (it was tiresome too).

6.  And thanks for all the cooked food (sometimes half cooked, sometimes overcooked, you can’t deny these). But isn’t it magical? No matter what and how you cook, everyone enjoys. No complaint. Pure bliss and perfect happy family!!!! God send me that moment again (Sirf ek bar please).

7. Let me stop here and pretend not to know about them (I know hell lot of them as I grew up with sister.s.s.s.s) because I am single and I will be answerable in the future.

In conclusion (scholar style), there are usually some kids who pretend to be old beyond their age, who hardly join the menacing troops and often the reason for getting us into trouble with our parents. Thank God, your present profession is not CID. I call them the real loser’s.

        Share it if it makes sense to you and for the times that will not come back.

                Source:www.isaacnka.blogspot.com/antrimwanbutkhwan